Data Collection Efficiency and Quality

The greatest strengths of Internet survey data collection are the potential
to collect a large amount of data in a relatively short amount of time,
and the elimination of the necessity for researchers to enter or process
the data. After creating the questionnaire, placing it online, and recruiting
subjects, a researchers primary data collection efforts are complete.
Hundreds of respondents can fill out the survey within a matter of days,
and all of these responses can be automatically inserted into a database
such as Microsoft Access. Data from web-based questionnaires can also
be automatically validated; for example, if a data value is entered in
an incorrect format, or outside a defined range, the web-based program
can return an error message requesting the respondent to enter the data
correctly and resubmit the questionnaire. If such validation capabilities
are used, the researcher need not worry about issues of missing or out-of-range
responses, and can proceed directly to preliminary analysis of the data.
(It should be noted, however, that automatic data validation cannot guarantee
the veracity of respondents' answers.)

Questionnaire Flexibility

In addition to its efficiency, web-based data collection can be remarkably
flexible, allowing such bells and whistles as randomization of question
order and complicated skip patterns. Researchers can also tailor each
questionnaire to individual respondents. For example, a graduate student
at the University of Washington used a web-based questionnaire to collect
data on courtship patterns (McDowell,
2001). The first two screens of the questionnaire gathered background
data about the subjects relationship; the web-based program then
used this data to construct an individualized graph with the appropriate
axes for respondents to indicate the turning points of their relationship.
Such automated processes allow for personalized, yet efficient and private,
data collection procedures.

Gathering Data on Rare or Deviant Phenomena

If you are interested in rare populations (e.g., people with a specific
illness, opposite-gender twins, African-American Jewish women), online
survey techniques allow you to draw responses from all over the world,
resulting in a much larger sample size than you could gather via traditional
methods. If your research involves deviant phenomena (e.g., alcoholism,
cheating on ones partner), the privacy afforded by the computer
may make it easier for respondents to admit to socially proscribed feelings
or behaviors.